Love at High Tide

by Christi Barth

  He put his hand on top of Darcy’s. If she moved it at all, he’d fast-forward to a wildly inappropriate full erection. “Start from the beginning. Leave nothing out,” he ordered.

  Ten minutes later, Coop regretted the leave nothing out part of his directive. Why the hell did Trina think it mattered what flavor Italian ice they’d thrown in the guy’s face? Like strawberry would sting more than mango? But Darcy had done a good job of keeping her friend mostly on track with the recitation. “First of all, I think you’re right. You are perfectly safe here.”

  “Doesn’t sound like there’s any way he could’ve caught up to you even before you hopped in a car. I’m sure you’re safe at your house, too,” Brad added.

  “Secondly, I owe you an apology.” Coop spread his hands wide, palms up. “God knows how you managed to randomly stumble across this guy, but he’s definitely bad news. I’m sorry I doubted you, Trina. I’m even more sorry that Ivan attacked you.”

  “You skated a line this time,” Brad warned. He’d kicked back in a recliner, dangling his beer over the side from two fingers. “You never should’ve gotten so close to him. Owning pepper spray isn’t the same as deploying it. And even if you pulled it out, what if he’d snatched it away from you? Then what? Did your how-to book cover how to escape from a guy who’s three times your size? Do you know self-defense?” Although he looked relaxed, Brad popped out each point with the penetrating, icy heat of Ben-Gay. Too bad Trina didn’t look anywhere close to suitably chastened.

  “No, I don’t know any fancy fighting moves. Yet, that is. Doesn’t mean I can’t learn. Trial and error, right?”

  “Wrong,” both men shouted. Exasperation and concern jacked their voices up louder than strictly necessary. Brad thunked down his foot rest and leaned forward. “An error could get you a lot more than a sliced cheek next time.”

  Trina angled an angelic smile at Coop. “Well, you told me he wasn’t dangerous.”

  Crap. Next to him, Darcy giggled. He couldn’t argue with her logic, no matter how much he wanted to. But he refused to back down. Coop couldn’t risk her going off on another wild hare. “No way. I’m not taking the heat for this. I need you to promise to keep your distance from Ivan. In fact, no more tailing anyone until you do learn self-defense.” He squeezed Darcy’s hand. “That goes for both of you.”

  “Trust me, I’m in no hurry to ever see that man again.” She shuddered. Then she very pointedly looked first at Brad, and then Coop. “But if we stay away, what are you two going to do about him?”

  Huh. He hadn’t expected Darcy to do anything but let this whole matter drop. Too easy to get sidetracked by her long legs and seductive eyes and not remember her scalpel-sharp mind. Which he admired. Coop liked a woman to keep him on his toes. He just wasn’t quite ready for it in this situation. He stood. “Guess I’ll start by getting to work on that guacamole. Can’t let you keep drinking on an empty stomach.”

  Of course, she followed him to the kitchen. Darcy was too smart to just let him wriggle off the hook. “I’m a big fan of snacks, but don’t think you can get off that easy. You’ve admitted that whatever Ivan’s up to is no good. So what’s next? You can’t let him roam around Ocean City stirring up trouble.”

  “Technically, we can,” said Brad. He craned around to see her from the depths of his chair. “We don’t have jurisdiction here. Well, we do, but not unless the OCPD asks for our help. Cops are very territorial. Unless we actually see a crime going down, there’s not much we can do.”

  “But what about Trina? She was assaulted.” Darcy shot her hip to the side and fisted her hand on it. She radiated righteous outrage on behalf of her friend. “That’s still a crime, right?”

  Coop felt like he’d been hauled in front of the teacher to defend a bad math problem. It flat out sucked that the law sometimes protected the guilty as well—if not better—than it protected the innocent. He carried a bowl of tortilla chips over to Trina. “It’s a gray area. If you go to the police to press charges and explain that he smacked you, they’ll want to know why. Then you’ll have to admit that you were engaged in unlawful surveillance. Chances are good they won’t pay attention to anything you say after that.”

  “Even if we go with you, we’d all probably get tossed out on our ears,” said Brad. “You’ve got nothing but circumstantial evidence. Do we believe whatever Ivan’s doing stinks worse than rotting crabs? Hell, yes. Do we have any proof? No.”

  Huh. Even though Darcy might be pissed at him for explaining that they were hamstrung, she still hung out in the kitchen with him. Coop started slicing and dicing avocadoes. Looked like the date part of this night might still be salvageable. A mystery to unravel, steaks on the grill, and a gorgeous woman to kiss afterwards. All his favorite things wrapped up in one salt-tinged, sandy package here at the family beach house. As long as he managed to find a way to assuage Darcy and Trina’s need to see Ivan brought to justice.

  “We can run him through the system,” Coop offered. “We’ll call the motel, get his real name, and see if anything pings when we run him.”

  Darcy rolled another avocado his way. “That’s it? That’s all you can do?”

  “That’s us sticking our necks way out—if we get caught. We’re not supposed to run background checks on anyone without just cause. Or use our badges to coerce information.” True, but another gray area. Not that he’d admit it to the inquisitive woman now tracing circles at the small of his back. Coop had friends who did a full criminal check before every first date. One guy even did it for his widowed mother once she signed up with an Internet dating site.

  “Only on one condition.” Brad stood to tower over Trina. “I don’t want to worry about you. So you stay away from Ivan. Don’t sit anywhere near him on the beach. In fact, pick a different spot, down at least one lifeguard tower from where you’ve been the past few days. Promise?”

  “Yeah.” When Brad still glared down at her, Trina’s cheeks finally pinked back up. “What do you want me to do, cross my heart?”

  Great. With Trina back to her sassy self, she’d keep Brad occupied. Coop reached for a jar of salsa—his secret ingredient. The faster they got through dinner, the faster he’d get to dessert. And Darcy was the only thing that would satisfy his sweet tooth.

  * * *

  Coop cinched his arm a little tighter around Darcy’s waist. “I’m glad you agreed to a walk. Some people don’t like the beach at night. I don’t get what they’re worried about. Like a great white is really going to sneak up on them just because the moon’s out?”

  “I’m not too worried about a shark trying to crawl up onto the sand.” Darcy slowed her steps across the weathered boards of the dune crossing. “Unless you’re suggesting that we go skinny dipping. Then, I admit, I’d be a bit freaked out.”

  Well, he hadn’t planned on suggesting it. But now it was all he could think about. Darcy, naked and slip-sliding against him with every swell of the tide. Wrapping her legs around his waist while he kept them afloat. Chilly water hardening her nipples before he wrapped his lips around them. Her neck tilted back, hair like a mermaid’s in the water as he nipped at her throat. Christ, had she tortured him with this vision on purpose? She couldn’t possibly be that much of a tease, could she? Coop had to push a little more to see.

  “What if I promised to float between you and any potential ocean predators?”

  An emphatic whip of her hair against his arms answered the question. “Nope. Still too scary. I don’t want you to be the appetizer course for Jaws any more than I want to be the entrée.”

  Coop urged her forward onto the cool, packed sand. Oh well. Guess he’d come out here after she left and try to wash away any unslaked lust in the cold water all by himself. “Just a walk it is, then.”

  “The beach at night reminds me of Africa. Dark, isolated, quiet. Except for the steady thrum of the waves.” Her cell ph
one twittered a multi-tonal notification. She laughed. “Maybe you should write me up a citation for noise pollution. Sorry about this.” Darcy palmed her phone, read the text, and slipped it back into the pocket of the hoodie he’d loaned her.

  He’d wised up and left his phone on his dresser. “Juggling another hot date?” Coop laced his fingers through hers. Might as well imprint himself upon her, just in case it was true. Who knew how many times she got propositioned at Fager’s last night? Any man with half a brain and both balls would want Darcy at first sight. And be willing to fight off any other contenders once they actually talked to her.

  “Um, no.” She laughed, a little self-consciously, and squeezed his hand. “A hot job offer, actually.”

  “A different one? Not the Africa thing?”

  “No, it’s Africa. Technically, I still have three days to make up my mind. Except they can’t believe I didn’t accept immediately. I guess they think my continued silence is a negotiating tactic. So at the end of every day, I get a text with a new and improved offer. More pay, another three days of vacation. It’s starting to verge on the ridiculous.”

  Must be nice to have a job tossed into your lap like an already caught fish. Coop had experienced the other side, straining and fighting and working with every inch of his body and mind to hook the Secret Service job. And it would forever be the big one that got away. “Are you working them over? Or have you really not made up your mind?”

  “I wish I could take credit for being that savvy. Well, my parents call it savvy. I call it greedy.” Darcy halted them right at the dark mark of the high tide line. She stared out at the crashing surf, all gray and frothy. “But the truth is that I don’t know what to do. The job I’ve been offered is great. Really great. Anyone just out of a doctoral program would kill for it.”

  “Except you.”

  “Except me,” she echoed. “My parents will kill me if I don’t take it. Or at least disown me. On top of paying well, the job is prestigious. This could be the cornerstone of my entire career. Obviously, that would reflect well on them. They want to be able to drop my name and have it impress funders the next time they apply for grants for fieldwork.”

  Yup, he stuck with his original take of her parents being first-class douchebags. The fact she hadn’t already fallen in line just to make them look good probably meant Darcy knew it, too. “Or?”

  She shrugged, shook her head. All that beautiful dark hair flowed like water across her back. “Or nothing. I don’t have an ‘or’ lined up. Jobs like this one don’t fall out of trees. If I turn it down, it could be one year, or three, or even five of me twiddling my thumbs back in Baltimore before I’m offered something else this big.”

  “Sounds like a slam dunk. What’s the catch?”

  “So simple. So stupid.” Darcy angled to face him. “I just don’t want to do it. I don’t want to live in Africa anymore. I don’t want to study a tribe that is almost completely cut off from current civilization. I don’t want to just sit back and take notes. I want all this education to stand for something, to enable me to work with people, not just watch them. To make a difference, not just make a name for myself.”

  Bad enough that his dick leapt to attention every time he saw her. And that she made him laugh, and challenged him. Now his respect soared sky high. The woman wanted to make a difference. How many people actually stood up and tried to make life better, instead of just bitching about it?

  Coop’s heart did an Olympics-worthy somersault. Or three. He’d fallen harder and faster than an asteroid falling to Earth. But now he had to be careful not to flame out. Making sure Darcy fell under his spell just as much would take all his focus. So they’d finish hashing out her job problem. And then they’d progress to the real reason behind every moonlit walk on the beach—lots and lots of kissing.

  “Valid arguments, all of them. Forget Africa,” he urged. His advice couldn’t be because he selfishly wanted more time with her, could it? Nah. Her whole face scrunched up when she talked about the dark continent. Melancholy husked up her voice. Coop was certain that anybody listening would counsel her to pass on this offer.

  “A more valid argument favors taking the job—my dwindling bank balance. Graduate teaching assistants are paid less than a pittance. Earning three degrees back to back means my student loans are approximately the size of the GNP of Guam.” She ticked off each point on long, slender fingers. “I don’t have any savings. I need a job immediately. So it’s either Africa, or move in with Trina and find a waitress job. Preferably one where I get sensational tips without having to wear a push-up bra and shorts.”

  Coop indulged in that vision for a second. He grabbed her hands in one of his and brushed kisses across her knuckles. “I get that you need a job. But you shouldn’t have to settle for a career that makes you unhappy.”

  “Ideally, yes. Which means I’ve got two days left to find a loophole. Unfortunately, my brand new doctorate doesn’t guarantee I’ve got the smarts to figure one out.”

  “Oh, you’re plenty smart.” He figured this was a great time to segue into what he’d been waiting to say all through dinner. Because this woman absolutely blew him away. “And brave.”

  “Very funny,” she scoffed.

  “I’m serious.”

  Her eyes, made into wide, indigo pools by the darkness, connected with his. “You want to talk brave? You were willing to spend your life being a human shield. Here’s what I’m dying to know. Did you even vote for President Reston?”

  “God, no.” In fact, Cooper didn’t know anyone who had. The entire state of Maryland had turned out in record numbers to vote against him. Unfortunately, Maryland was too small to make a difference stacked up against all the big states that supported Reston. “The man’s an idiot. It’s amazing he hasn’t accidentally launched a nuclear missile while reaching for his video game controller.”

  Darcy snickered, but quickly sobered. “And yet you are so dedicated to the idea of protecting that hallowed office of the president that you’d be willing to sacrifice your life to save his. That’s brave.”

  Maybe. Coop didn’t like the magnifying glass being turned back on him. For him, it wasn’t about the accolades. It was about service. Sticking his neck out because somebody had to, and many others wouldn’t. “Some might call it massively stupid. Or being a danger-a-holic. Now what you did? With no training, no knowledge of self-defense, no back-up? Engaging the enemy without a thought to your own safety, to save your friend? Now that’s brave.”

  “Wow. In hindsight, it sounds pretty stupid. Reckless.” Darcy gave herself a head-to-toe shake, as if sloughing off the memory. “If I’d taken the time to think about it like that, I probably would’ve just run away as fast as I could.”

  “No chance.”

  “You’re right. I was scared spitless, but I couldn’t leave Trina behind.”

  “Loyal and brave. Darcy Trent, you’re an amazing woman.” With hands on her shoulders, he turned her around and headed away from the water’s edge.

  “Flattery will get you almost anywhere,” she teased.

  “Good to know. How about I take you somewhere, instead?”

  “Okay.” But the moment Coop laid her over his shoulder in a fireman’s throw, she began to wiggle. “Don’t you dare drop me in the ocean. It’s too cold.”

  “I promise you’re not going to be cold much longer.” Coop climbed the rungs of the high-backed lifeguard chair. Once on top, he sat and easily slid Darcy right into his lap. She leaned her head against his shoulder.

  “This is wonderful. I feel like I’m on a throne. Queen of the ocean.”

  “Well, Poseidon himself did sort of deliver you to me on that wave yesterday. I get my Greek and Roman goddesses mixed up. What would that make you? Aphrodite? Venus?”

  “Ha-ha. I’m no goddess.”

  “Guess that PhD do
esn’t make you so smart after all. Because you are most definitely a beautiful goddess.” To stop her protest, Coop brushed a kiss across her lips. She melted into his embrace. So soft, so yielding. Darcy opened her mouth on a moan. The invitation didn’t get lost on Coop. He deepened the kiss, thrusting his tongue inside. Tasting, touching, learning more about what she liked with every stroke.

  His whole body thrummed with lust, like the insistent bass reverb at a rock concert. Easing her back against his arm, Coop gave himself better access to the lusciousness of her breasts. He grabbed the zipper of her borrowed hoodie between his teeth and slowly pulled it down. Darcy squirmed a little. This time it burrowed her deeper into his lap as she threw her legs over the arms of the oversized chair. Beneath the jacket she wore only her bright red bikini top. All it did was offer her breasts up to him. Her beautiful, creamy mounds drew him closer.

  “Don’t tease me,” Darcy whispered. “Taste me.”

  Never let it be said he didn’t deliver on such a request. Coop nibbled his way down her neck to her collarbone. There he switched to long, slow licks. Like following a topographic map, he traced the clavicle to her sternum. And from there, he used his tongue like a paint brush. Swirling, licking, nuzzling, tickling. It didn’t take long before Darcy rose up to meet him. Each breath a pant, each arch of her back driving him closer to the edge of the taut fabric.

  Instead of nosing it aside, Coop sucked the slightly salty fabric into his mouth. Her nipple immediately peaked from the suction. His left hand reached for her other breast, tracing circles on top of the fabric around her nipple until it also rose. Darcy’s hands ran through his hair. She pulled him closer, which was exactly where he wanted to be. His tongue swept aside the damp fabric and he laved her nipple directly. The soft, slightly puckered skin felt so good between his lips. Coop groaned, and the vibration seemed to inflame Darcy.